Captain Future 07 - The Magician of Mars (Summer 1941) (11 page)

CURT NEWTON had only a momentary glimpse of a vast, vaguely lit cavernous abyss into which the river tumbled for almost a hundred feet. Then the little metal boat went over the brink of the fall.

Thunderous waters roared in Curt’s ears as he and Grag were tossed dizzily from the boat. Turning over and over as he fell among the plunging waters, Captain Future glimpsed a great foaming pool rushing up at him. He straightened, struck the pool like a diver.

He went deep down into the seething waters, the shock of impact almost stunning him. Then he fought up to the surface, his lungs bursting as he struggled against the whirling currents. He broke surface and found himself being whirled crazily around by the eddying currents of the pool.

There was no sign of Grag or the boat. Yet Curt did not try to search for his companion. He struck out in great strokes that soon brought him to the rocky shore of the pool. There he stood, panting.

“The People of Darkness weren’t fooling when they said this river is dangerous,” Curt muttered to himself, ruefully.

Captain Future sat down on the rocky shore and waited. He wasn’t worried about Grag. He knew Grag would have sunk to the bottom of the pool like a stone, but the robot couldn’t drown for he didn’t breathe.

Soon, Curt saw a — dripping metal figure come up out of the pool. It was Grag. The big robot was walking up out of the water, dragging the metal boat with him. He had also secured the paddles.

“Well, Grag, that was fun, wasn’t it?” Curt greeted him.

“Fun?” cried the robot. Then he indulged in some of his choicest interplanetary profanity. “If that’s your idea of fun, may I be cut up and sold for scrap! I was walking around, down on the bottom of that pool, trying to find the boat and paddles. A big water-snake coiled around me and I had the devil of a time getting rid of it. And you call it fun!”

“I was only joking, Grag,” Captain Future chuckled. “Haven’t you any sense of humor?”

“My sense of humor doesn’t cover crazy expeditions like this one,” Grag growled. “I knew something like this would happen.”

“Come on, we’ve got to get on,” Curt told him, entering the boat and grasping a paddle. “I hope we don’t hit any more waterfalls.”

“If we do, I get out and walk!” threatened Grag.

They pushed off again upon the underground river. The infra-red searchlight which Curt had had in its bow was lost, as was his compass. But he paddled resolutely on down the strange waterway. They encountered more rapids. But when they had won past these, the river ran smooth and fast through very high tunnels and caves.

“We’re very deep down in the caves now,” Curt called back to the sulky robot. “We should have reached the radite cavern by now.”

“Probably we’ve lost our way and will drift on down till we reach the center of Uranus,” prophesied Grag gloomily. “A nice prospect!”

They shot out of the long tunnel they were traversing into a big, elongated cavern that was more brightly illuminated than any yet.

“Those are krypton lights ahead!” Captain Future exclaimed. “Paddle over to shore, Grag. We’ve found Ul Quorn’s base!”

Curt and the robot paddled furiously to get their craft to shore before they were carried down past those lighted buildings. By herculean efforts they won out of the racing current and pulled the boat up among the big boulders that rimmed the shore.

Captain Future and Grag crouched down behind a towering boulder and peered intently at the little community a thousand feet down the cavern.

“It’s Quorn’s workshop, all right,” Curt muttered. “Look at that ship.”

“Melt me down!” exclaimed Grag. “Only the Magician of Mars would have a lair down here inside Uranus!”

THEY could clearly see a large space ship whose torpedolike metal bulk loomed amid the small metal shacks.

“That’s Quorn’s big new dimension-shifting cruiser!” Captain Future said tensely. “And it looks about complete. Quorn must be nearly ready now to start on his treasure expedition into the other universe.”

“How’re we going to stop him, Chief?” whispered Grag. “Shall we burst out on ‘em and gun ‘em down?”

“Too many of them for that,” Curt retorted. “We’ve got two things to do here. First, we have to see if they’ve got young Johnny Kirk here. Then we have to make sure that that new ship doesn’t depart.”

Curt loosened his proton pistol in its holster.

“I’m going to steal a little closer and reconnoiter. You wait here —”

“Look, Chief!” Grag whispered suddenly. “Someone’s coming!”

A figure could be seen stealing toward them along the bank of the river. The smallness of the figure and its stealth were puzzling.

“Holy sun-imps, it’s Johnny Kirk!” Grag muttered bewilderedly.

Curt laughed softly.

“That boy has stuff in him. He’s found a way somehow to escape. Let him come on, Grag — but grab him before he can utter any cry. He might give us away, in his surprise.”

Johnny Kirk was coming straight toward them along the boulder-strewn bank of the river. The sturdy figure of the Earth youngster kept as much as possible in the shadow of the big boulders. Then as Johnny reached the boulder behind which Curt and Grag crouched, the robot suddenly grabbed the youngster and put one metal hand over his face to smother his cry of alarm.

“It’s Captain Future, Johnny!” Curt whispered quickly to the struggling youngster. “Don’t make any outcry.”

Grag released the boy. In the dim light, Johnny’s belligerent young face showed his astonishment and joy. But he tried to appear casual.

“Aw, I knew you’d get here, Captain Future,” he declared. He turned to Grag. “What’s the idea trying to choke me, huh?”

Curt explained rapidly to the youngster how he and Grag had come. And in turn, Johnny Kirk related the means of his escape.

“I always figured that kit of Martian burglar tools I won would come in handy some day,” the youngster finished. “I did as good as a Futureman would do, didn’t I? Can’t I be one of your gang now?”

Curt Newton chuckled.

“Johnny, you’re a little young for that. Suppose we put you down as a Future-Futureman, eh?”

“You mean maybe some day you’ll take me on as a real Futureman?” the youngster asked eagerly. “Swell!”

“Tell me what you’ve found out about Quorn’s plans,” Curt asked.

The boy shook his head. “Not much, I think he’s ready to go off in that new ship. They’ve been loading it with that blue-shining rock they dig from the big mass over yonder.”

“If Quorn’s stocking the craft with radite, he’s about ready to take off into the co-existing universe,” Curt muttered. “He’s got to be stopped, even if —”

A distant cry of alarm interrupted. It came from one of Quorn’s men.

“That’s Thikar, who was my guard!” Johnny Kirk whispered. “He’s found out that I’ve escaped.”

Captain Future saw men come running toward the Jovian, Thikar. Then — Curt glimpsed a slender, turbaned figure in a purple Martian robe. His fists clenched as he recognized the man.

“Ul Quorn himself!” he muttered. “The Magician of Mars, at last.”

He could hear Quorn’s angry voice. “Thikar, you’re an idiot to have allowed that boy to escape. You and Xexel hunt for him. He can’t have got far. The rest of you keep on loading the radite into the
Nova.”

The big Jovian and an old Saturnian obeyed the order. They started in opposite directions along the cavern, flashing hand-searchlights among the boulders as they searched.

IT WAS Xexel, the old Saturnian, who was approaching the end of the cavern in which Curt and Grag and Johnny crouched in hiding.

“That old rascal will find us here, Chief!” Grag cautioned.

“I want him to — I’ve a swell idea,” Captain Future whispered.

A daring but feasible expedient had entered Curt’s mind as he saw the old Saturnian approaching.

Xexel, the Saturnian criminal, was growling to himself as he came on, turning his light into every shadow. Curt motioned Grag and Johnny to crouch lower. Captain Future himself tensed like a hunting cat, and crept around the big boulder to approach Xexel from the rear.

A swift, silent leap sent Curt plunging onto the old Saturnian’s back. As he bore Xexel to the ground, his thumbs were pressing a vital nerve in the old man’s neck. Xexel went unconscious before he could cry out. Curt hastily dragged the limp form into the shadows.

“I don’t get your move!” Grag exclaimed bewilderedly. “What are you going to do with Xexel?”

For answer, Curt stripped off the drab zipper-suit worn by the unconscious old criminal. A moment later Captain Future was fishing out of the secret pockets of his broad belt, a small, compact make-up kit.

“I’m going into Quorn’s camp, disguised as Xexel!” Captain Future declared in low tones. “It’ll give me a chance to sabotage Quorn’s new ship before he can take off into the co-existing universe.”

“Chief, it’s risky!” Grag protested anxiously. “Your disguises can fool most people — but that Magician of Mars has X-Ray eyes!”

“I’ll get past,” Curt affirmed confidently. “Hold up the old man so I can see his face.”

In the dim light, working rapidly in stealth, Captain Future performed a miracle of make-up upon himself. He had learned the art long ago from Otho, the greatest master of disguise in the nine worlds.

Blue dye from a tiny tube smoothly smeared his face and hands to the dull blue Saturnian complexion. A drop of eye-stain changed his gray eyes to black. A fine powder rubbed into his hair darkened it magically. Waxite pads inside his cheeks changed the shape of his features, and a cunning astringent produced a fine network of wrinkles on his face.

“How does it look?” asked Captain Future, in the shrill, slightly quavering voice in which he had heard the old Saturnian speak.

“You’re a dead ringer for old Xexel!” gasped Johnny Kirk. “Gee, Captain Future — I don’t know which of you is which.”

Curt took off his “nine-planet” emblem ring and thrust it into his belt-pocket. Then he donned the old Saturnian’s zipper-suit over his belt and proton pistol, and picked up Xexel’s searchlight.

“You and Johnny wait here, Grag,” he ordered the robot. “If I can get into that new ship without being challenged, I’ll make sure it doesn’t take off for a while! But if I do get into trouble, you stay out of it and wait for Simon and Otho to come.”

Curt slipped from behind the boulder’s shadow and began moving about with the stooped stride of the old Saturnian he was impersonating. He flashed his lamp here and there as though searching.

After some minutes of this, Captain Future limped back toward the lights and metal shacks of Quorn’s work-base. His heart was thudding with anticipation as he approached. If this disguise passed muster with the keen-eyed Magician of Mars, he could effectually checkmate Quorn.

Curt found Ul Quorn standing by his new ship, the
Nova,
directing the half dozen men who were carrying lead boxes of radite into the ship.

“Hurry it up!” Quorn was ordering imperiously.

CURT instantly recognized the men. The hard-faced Earthman was Gray Garson, who had been behind the space ship hijacking ring on Mercury. The fatter, puffy-faced Earthman was Lucas Brewer, who had once nearly managed to kill him in the course of a gun-running plot on Jupiter. There were Lu Sentu, the cunning-faced, wizened Mercurian thief, and Athor Az, the drowsy-eyed Venusian murderer. The Martian and Plutonian were as familiar.

“Nice crew that Ul Quorn has picked to help him hunt his treasure,” Curt thought grimly. “The most dangerous outlaws of the system!”

Quorn turned toward him. Curt tensed as the fathomless black eyes of the Magician of Mars studied him.

“Well, did you find the boy, Xexel?” snapped Quorn.

“No, Chief, I couldn’t spot him,” answered Curt in quavering tones.

“Then he’ll simply wander in the caves till he starves,” Ul Quorn declared. “We can’t waste more time hunting him. Help load that radite aboard. I want to get out of here before that devil Future comes.”

Curt Newton pretended incredulity.

“Why, Chief, Captain Future couldn’t follow us here!” he argued.

“You’re an old fool, Xexel!” lashed Ul Quorn. “I know Future well enough to know that he’ll trail us here somehow. Get at the loading!”

Curt limped away, toward the heap of leaden boxes which contained the radite Quorn and his men had quarried. Curt picked up one of the boxes and, pretending to hobble under its weight, moved with it toward the door of the
Nova.

As he entered the ship with the other toiling men, Curt’s eyes flashed around the interior. He saw in the fore-cabin of the craft a bulky machine whose main feature was a copper dome supported by three quartz rods above a complex of vacuum-tubes, condensers and wiring.

Captain Future recognized the machine as the heart of Quorn’s ship — the dimension-shifting apparatus that would hurl the craft across the fifth-dimension gulf into the co-existing universe.

“If I can get my hands on that thing a moment!” he thought.

But he had no chance at present. The criminals were streaming in and out of the
Nova,
loading the radite. Curt Newton had to hobble back to the cyclotron room and dump the box of shining blue radite into the fuel bin.

As he left he saw N’Rala come out of one of the metal shacks and join Ul Quorn. A cold chill of apprehension touched Curt as the slumbrous eyes of the lithe, beautiful Martian girl rested casually upon him.

“That hell-cat penetrated my disguise once!” he thought, remembering how N’Rala had exposed him during the Space-Stones case. “If she recognizes me now —”

But N’Rala only glanced indifferently at the limping old Saturnian. Reassured, he carried another box into the
Nova.
Again, Captain Future found it impossible to reach the vital machine in the fore-cabin. He would be noticed instantly.

Curt began to feel a little desperate. He couldn’t get at the dimension-shifter. And he knew that it would be madness to try to overpower these dozen criminals, even with Grag’s help.

“All the radite’s aboard, Chief!” announced Gray Garson as Curt started to emerge from the ship a second time.